


I'm With You

by tess1978



Series: Ripples [1]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Blood, Choices, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-14 10:56:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8010949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tess1978/pseuds/tess1978
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Paladin Sam Foley makes his decision about which faction to support, Rhys is forced to decide what is more important to him: Haylen or the entire Brotherhood.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'm With You

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to [Chapter 5 of Walls](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6435013/chapters/14730859), as well as the chapter of Bits and Pieces called Body Heat.

Rhys knew he never should have trusted that fucker Sam Foley. 

At first, Rhys had thought Sam was just going to desert, but he stuck around, and when the Prydwen arrived, Danse had practically dragged the man up to see the Elder. When they returned, he had somehow been promoted to knight. A rank Rhys had spent years working towards.

He had spent too many years distrusting everyone to fall down in raptures of adoration like Danse and Haylen did. Danse had started off praising the man’s intelligence and battle prowess, initiating him into the Brotherhood with barely a passing thought. Haylen had rhapsodised about his kindness and sense of humour. Rhys would have been jealous if she hadn’t been crawling into bed with him every night, kissing him and letting him run his fingers through her red curls.

Haylen had soothed him, telling Rhys to trust Danse’s judgement. Rhys was not mollified but he stopped arguing with Haylen. He preferred to spend his time with her doing much more pleasant things. 

She was the light of his life, the bright spot in the darkness, and in those late-night wide awake moments when he was perfectly honest with himself he knew she was the only thing he would ever leave the Brotherhood for. 

It didn’t mean he liked or trusted the man, though. He just preferred to let sleeping dogs lie.

Then there had been all that business with Danse, the lying fucking synth traitor. Haylen knew the details, Rhys figured, and he suspected that Foley was somehow involved in a cover up of some sort, but he figured that knowing too much was dangerous, so he hadn’t asked any questions. But it hadn’t made him trust the newly promoted Paladin any more. 

The aforementioned Paladin Foley had strolled through the door last week and scheduled a bunch of missions for today. Rhys had wanted to explain that it would leave the police station woefully undermanned, but his protests were shot down. Now that Foley outranked him, Rhys had lost what little control he had over the former vault dweller.

The morning of the scheduled missions dawned clear and sunny, and Rhys woke up to find Haylen curled into his chest, her hand under his shirt and warm against his skin. Rhys watched her for several minutes, admiring how the early morning sunshine shot gold through the copper strands, until he reluctantly acknowledged that it was time to get up. 

He shook her awake, smiling as she groaned and pressed closer to him. Her body radiated heat, and it took him a moment to realise she was actually too warm. He pressed his hand to her neck and down the back of her shirt, frowning as he realized she wasn’t just warm, she was burning up.

He shook her again and she groaned, painfully. “Baby, wake up. I think you’re sick.”

She managed to sit up, rubbing her face and agreeing. “Yeah, I might have flu or something. There’s no way I’m going with you guys.”

So Rhys rounded up everything she needed for a sick day, then joined the team as they headed out. 

Paladin Brandis was leading them. They were to do a ten mile circle, meeting up with another team, and then the ten mile hike back. They had barely gone half a mile when Rhys began to worry about how sick Haylen was. He pressed through the group until he got to Brandis.

He’d always gotten along with Brandis. He was a straight-shooting, no-nonsense kind of guy. “Sir,” began Rhys. “I’m not aware of the specific goals of this mission, but I see there are quite a lot of us here. I was hoping I could head back without being missed. I’m worried about Scribe Haylen, you see, and I think she would be much better off with someone back at the police station to look after her.”

Brandis had looked him up and down, then glanced back at the crowd. A muscle worked in his jaw. It was clear that the experienced Paladin was unsure as to the necessity of this mission as well. Finally he had turned back to Rhys and nodded. “We’ll see you back at the police station when we return.”

So Rhys headed back to the base. He was nearly there when gunshots rang out, echoing in the abandoned buildings of Cambridge.

He began to sprint, terrified of what he might find. He had known it was a mistake leaving the police station undefended. He was worried about the remaining Brotherhood soldiers, but he was worried more for Haylen, lying sick and helpless on her bedroll. 

The three knights guarding the gate were dead, killed by a shotgun by the looks of it. Rhys spared them barely a glance as he ran to the front door.

He didn’t know what he would find. He just hoped to god it wasn’t raiders. Those fuckers had taken everything from him once, he wasn’t going to let it happen again.

What he found inside was somehow worse than raiders.

Paladin Sam Foley had his rifle pointed at Haylen, who leaned weakly in the doorway, one shaky hand pointing her 10mm sidearm at the Paladin. Foley was dressed in Brotherhood gear, a flight suit and jacket, but the two men accompanying him were nobody Rhys had ever seen before. The bald one was wearing a flight suit as well, and the little black man working on the terminal on the counter was dressed in coveralls. 

“Don’t do this Sam,” wheezed Haylen. After all that’s happened, how can you do this?

Foley at least had the decency to look distressed as he ran his hand through his dark hair. “You all were supposed to be gone today, don’t you see? I didn’t mean for you to get hurt but after what happened last week...Haylen, I’m sorry.”

Rhys was coming to the dawning realization that not only was Foley betraying the Brotherhood, he was leading an outright attack on them. And he’d used his position as Paladin to somehow organize the troops here to make it easier on himself.

Rhys had gone unnoticed up to this point, but the outrage and furious anger he felt at this moment was too much for him to keep inside. This was worse than that synth. This was deliberate. He swore loudly and pointed his own weapon at the vault dweller. 

The bald man aimed his own shotgun at Rhys, stepping closer to make sure he was in range with the weapon. It appeared they were in a standoff.

“You want me to shoot him, boss?”

Foley shook his head. “No, let me talk to them first, Deeks.” He turned to Rhys. “I don’t want to hurt anyone, but I will if I have to. Put down the gun.”

Rhys knew that there was more to this plan than just Foley and that weaselly fucker Deeks taking over the police station. His eyes narrowed as he tried to figure out a strategy to take down Foley and his buddy without Haylen getting hurt. 

Unfortunately, he forgot to factor in the little hacker. He’d been so intent on the traitor Paladin and his buddy that he’d completely forgotten him. So when the man came around and kicked him in the back of the leg, he was caught off guard and stumbled for a moment. 

The moment was all Foley needed. He lined up his shot and pulled the trigger. Haylen screamed and fell to the ground. 

“Tom, Deacon, go, I’ll be right there!” Foley shouted, and the two men headed for the stairs, while Sam turned his rifle back on Rhys. 

“Look Rhys, I hit her in the leg. She’s gonna bleed out mighty fast if she doesn’t get help. You can come after us, try and stop us from getting that bird and going to the Prydwen. But if you do that, she’s gonna bleed out on the floor. Or you can bandage her wound and give her a stimpack to save her life. The choice is yours.” 

Foley reached in his pocket and pulled out a couple stimpacks, which he tossed on the floor just out of reach of Haylen, before turning and running up the stairs after the other two. 

Rhys took one step after him, then turned, grabbed the stimpacks and went to Haylen. 

“Rhys, you should have gone after him, he’s gonna blow up the Prydwen. He said so before you got here.”

“I’m not fucking leaving you,” he replied, pulling off his belt and tying it tightly around her thigh. Even with the tourniquet on, she was bleeding alarmingly fast from the wound in her thigh. He pressed his hand there but it was oozing between his fingers. He glanced at her. Her eyes were rolling back into her head. 

“Stay with me baby,” he said, tearing open the stimpack with his teeth. He jammed it in her thigh, and when the bleeding slowed, he removed his hand and applied the second. The wound sealed quickly but she didn’t wake up. He ran to the first aid kit, hoping to hell there was a blood pack inside. 

He was in luck. 

He ignored the sound of the vertibird leaving the roof and ran back to Haylen. It took him several tries to get the needle in her arm. By then he was sobbing and laughing at the same time, a desperate, almost manic sounding laugh. She would have been able to do this easily, but he wasn’t a medic and he’d never done this before. All he had to go on was the memory of all the times she’d patched him up, binding his feet, stitching him, caring for him, loving him, and when it was his turn he was just gonna fucking let her die….

He finally got the needle in, and watched as the blood slowly drained into her body. She was still unconscious but breathing and all he could do was hold onto her and hope she would come awake. The laughter faded but his tears continued as he told her how much he loved her, how much he needed her, and how she better not fucking die on him today. 

The brush of her hand on his face brought his eyes to hers. She looked back at him, still fevered but clear-eyed. 

She smiled, and he smiled back. She opened her mouth and whispered. Rhys leaned in close to hear. 

“Hey, I’m with you, okay? Always.”


End file.
